Traps, or the Trapezius muscle, are one of the neglected upper body muscles. The common statement is that you do not need to put separate work for traps. Doing shrugs here and there will build solid traps, won’t it?
It certainly does not unless you are genetically gifted, which most people aren’t. Traps are muscles that need enough stimuli to grow like every other muscle. Yes, it is true that most of the back and shoulder exercises also train the traps, but if you want a solid trap, then you need to do some separate work on it.
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Why would you train your traps? What is the benefit of having solid traps?
If there were no benefits, people would have skipped training the traps. All professional athletes or bodybuilders train them because they provide several benefits. The benefits are not only limited to their particular sport but also to daily life. Some of the top benefits that traps offer are:
Improves Posture and stability
Traps are one of the bigger muscle groups in the upper back. They work as stabilizers for the upper body and support the neck. Strong traps help us maintain good posture by supporting the shoulders, back, and neck.
Improves aesthetic Appearance
Every person who workout wants to attain the “V” taper. Well-developed traps help enhance the V-taper look. Have you seen a person with good traps wearing a tank top? It looks like a shell is popping from the back.
Improve performance and prevent injuries.
In compound movements like deadlifts or squats, traps play a significant role in stabilizing the back and maintaining good posture. If you do not have good trap strength, your posture will break down as the movement progresses, leading to a hunched back position that can cause injury.
Thus, training traps at least twice a week is necessary and should be on your priority list.
Anatomy of the traps
Most people mistakenly think that the trapezius muscle is only the muscle attached to the side of the neck, which is incorrect.
The trapezius muscle we see on the side of our neck is the tip of the iceberg; there are another two trapezius muscles on the backside of our body.
The trapezius consists of three muscles:
- Upper Trap: The muscle on the side of our neck is the upper trap. It helps tilt and rotate the head, allows the shoulders to move upright, and so on.
- Middle Trap: It is situated in the backside of your body beneath the upper traps. It allows the shoulder blades to retract (Pulling the shoulders backward) and helps extend the shoulder in front of the body.
- Lower Trap: It is also situated on the backside of the body beneath the middle trap. It assists the shoulder blades in pulling downward and stabilizes the body when the arm travels across it.
Top 3 Trap Exercises:
The trap muscle almost always remains active as it is correlated with our arm and shoulder movements. You do not need much volume to develop strong traps, as they almost act as a supporting muscle for back and shoulder exercises.
However, to grow them optimally, you must train them at least two times a week. The trap is a large muscle group, so you can do some heavy training with it, but that does not mean you should lift way beyond what you can.
Our top picks for trap exercises are:
Dumbbell Shrugs
The good old dumbbell shrug is an excellent trap-builder. We love it more than other variations because of its simplicity and full range of motion.
The dumbbell shrug is a pretty straightforward exercise. Its learning curve is low, so every beginner can start doing it. It also allows a full range of motion (ROM); you can fully contract on the top and go for a deeper stretch on the bottom to burn those trap muscles.
You can use heavy weights for this exercise. However, if you cannot maintain full ROM with a certain weight, that weight is too heavy for you. In that case, lower the weight to perform the exercise correctly.
How to perform:
- Hold each dumbbell on the side of your waist.
- Your feet should be shoulder-width apart for stability.
- If you can lean a bit forward, do it; otherwise, stand upright.
- Rise your shoulder blades as if you are trying to touch your ear with your shoulder.
- Slowly descend the weight and go for a full stretch at the bottom position.
You can use an incline bench to replicate the lean-down position. The benefit of that is it prevents you from using momentum, so you cannot cheat if you use an incline bench for shrugging (Set the bench to a 75 or 60-degree angle)
Upright row
The upright row is famous as a shoulder exercise, so why are we suggesting it for a growing trap?
As we discussed previously, one of the trap muscle functions is enabling the shoulder to move in an upright position. In the upright row, the shoulders move in the upright position; thus, it trains both the shoulders and trapezius.
How to perform:
- Grab moderate-weight dumbbells or a barbell
- Hold the dumbbells or barbells in front of the body (waist area).
- The palm should be facing inward (palm-facing body)
- Pull the weight up to your chest level.
- Slowly lower the weight until you reach the starting position.
Behind the back, smith machine shrug
We prefer the Smith machine for this exercise as it eliminates the stability problem that occurs with a barbell.
This exercise trains the trap from a different angle, which helps it become fully trained. Performing the routine is pretty straightforward.
How to perform:
- Set the bar to the lowest setting.
- Grab the bar with a shoulder-width grip behind your back.
- Relax the shoulders.
- Rise the shoulder blades and hold them for at least one second at the top position.
- Slowly descend the weight, but do not rack it; it will help you to maintain constant tension on your traps.